President: No Changes On Cuba

WASHINGTON — President Bush met for one hour Tuesday afternoon with 11 former political prisoners and families of current ones in the Roosevelt Room of the White House to mark Cuban Independence Day.

In the morning, Bush recorded a brief statement in Spanish, which was broadcast to Cuba on Radio Marti.

``My hope is for the Cuban people to soon enjoy the same freedoms and rights as we do. Dictatorship has no place in the Americas,'' Bush said.

The low-key events, a sharp contrast to last year's tough speeches in Washington and Miami, were intended to keep the focus on Cuba and its plight and away from the politics of the exile community in Miami, said a senior administration official.

``The president wanted the focus on the people who were the direct victims of repression,'' the White House official said. The official said the administration may offer some Cuba-related initiatives in the next few weeks, but declined to discuss what they might be other than to say they did not include violence.

One of the people at Tuesday's meeting was Isabel Roque, the sister of Marta Beatriz Roque, a Cuban economist who was one of 75 dissidents arrested in March. Marta Beatriz Roque was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

``We leave with a happy heart because [President Bush] will not abandon us,'' Isabel Roque said, crying as she spoke outside the White House.

But the lack of any dramatic policy announcements in the wake of Cuba's crackdown on dissidents did not go over well with some in Miami's Cuban-American community who were hoping for tough action.

``We're hopeful that some action will be taken,'' said Ninoska Perez Castellon, of the Cuban Liberty Council. ``It's time for action, not words.''

None of the three Republican Cuban-American members of congress attended Tuesday's event, instead issuing a lukewarm statement supporting the meeting.

The other Cuban-American in Congress, Rep. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., was blistering in his criticism of Bush.

``This is a record to be ashamed of, Mr. President. With exception to your rhetoric, your policy has not differed one iota from the Clinton policy,'' Menendez said.

The White House did expel 14 Cuban diplomats last week for spying, a move seen by many as a way of pleasing hard-liners in the Cuban-American community.

But officials from the Cuban American National Foundation, from which the Cuban Liberty Council split over policy differences, said they were pleased because the Bush administration did not react to Cuba and instead will continue its already successful policy of supporting dissidents on the island.

``I think that a superpower shouldn't be reacting to a third-rate dictatorship,'' said Joe Garcia, the foundation's executive director.

In Cuba, Miriam Leiva, the wife of independent journalist Oscar Espinosa Chepe, who was arrested in the March crackdown and sentenced to 20 years in prison, also was pleased Bush did not announce any harsh crackdowns.

"He [Bush] didn't let himself be provoked by the Cuban government," Leiva said.

Speaking at a Foundation event Tuesday in Miami, Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said he would introduce a bill that supports international efforts to move Cuba toward democracy.

``The people fighting for Cuba's freedom must know that we are watching and that we will not rest and will keep working to support them until they are finally free,'' Ensign said.